Propaganda 101 – How The Pentagon Is Trying To Rewrite Vietnam War History

In case you weren’t aware, the Pentagon is set to roll out a 50th anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War. Personally, it’s hard to get excited about commemorating an event that led to the death of over 58,000 American soldiers and more than a million Vietnamese, particularly since much of it was the direct result of well documented lies and deception, such as the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

What’s worse, the Pentagon intends to rewrite history by whitewashing this period of civil unrest and government shame from American history. The propaganda is so blatant that it has resulted in many of the era’s most well known protestors and activists to come together in order to stop it.

WASHINGTON — It has been nearly half a century since a young antiwar protester named Tom Hayden traveled to Hanoi to investigate President Lyndon B. Johnson’s claims that the United States was not bombing civilians in Vietnam. Mr. Hayden saw destroyed villages and came away, he says, “pretty wounded by the pattern of deception.”

Now the Pentagon — run by a Vietnam veteran, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel — is planning a 50th anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War. The effort, which is expected to cost taxpayers nearly $15 million by the end of this fiscal year, is intended to honor veterans and, its website says, “provide the American public with historically accurate materials” suitable for use in schools.

But the extensive website, which has been up for months, largely describes a war of valor and honor that would be unrecognizable to many of the Americans who fought in and against it.

Leading Vietnam historians complain that it focuses on dozens of medal-winning soldiers while giving scant mention to mistakes by generals and the years of violent protests and anguished debate at home.

In one early iteration, the website referred to the 1968 My Lai massacre, in which American troops killed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians, as the My Lai Incident.

The glossy view of history has now prompted more than 500 scholars, veterans and activists — including the civil rights leader Julian Bond; Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the top-secret Pentagon Papers; Lawrence J. Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan; and Peter Yarrow of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary — to join Mr. Hayden in demanding the ability to correct the Pentagon’s version of history and a place for the old antiwar activists in the anniversary events.

Mr. Hayden, 74, and other 1960s-era activists who helped him gather signatures, say they do not quarrel with honoring the sacrifice of soldiers. But they object to having the military write the story.

“All of us remember that the Pentagon got us into this war in Vietnam with its version of the truth,” Mr. Hayden said in a recent telephone interview from Berkeley, Calif., where he attended a rally to mark another 50th anniversary, that of the free-speech movement. “If you conduct a war, you shouldn’t be in charge of narrating it.”

He promised “educational materials, a Pentagon exhibit, traveling exhibits, symposiums, oral history projects and much more.” The mission, he said, is to “help the nation take advantage of a rare opportunity to turn back to a page in history and to right a wrong, by expressing its honor and respect to Vietnam veterans and their families.”

Many of the longtime activists also see the petition as deeply relevant today.

“You can’t separate this effort to justify the terrible wars of 50 years ago from the terrible wars of today,” said Phyllis Bennis, a Middle East expert who has known Mr. Hayden since the early 1970s. “When I saw this, I thought immediately, ‘We’ve got to stop this.’ ”

Vietnam was a useless war fought solely for the purpose of running up debt and forcing the USA off the Bretton Woods gold standard.

General Westmoreland documented Robert McNamara’s efforts to prolong the war and bring about the eventual (Henry Kissinger) defeat, but only after we were off the gold standard, in his book “A Soldier Reports.”

Milton Freidman did his bit with his “monetary growth rule” bullshit and Nixon was the fall guy.

~circa 1961~ Milions of baby-boomers coming of age. Will be ready to join the workforce. Whats that you say... Not enough jobs. Well, what if we drafted a few of them.... You know, keep them busy and all. What do you mean we are not at war. Start one!

The massacre, which was later called "the most shocking episode of the Vietnam War",[4] took place in two hamlets of Son My village in Qu?ng Ngãi Province.[5] These hamlets were marked on the U.S. Army topographic maps as My Lai and My Khe.[6] The U.S. military codeword for the alleged Viet Congstronghold in that area was Pinkville,[7] and the carnage was initially referenced as the Pinkville Massacre.[8][9] Later, when the U.S. Army started its investigation, the media changed it to the Massacre at Songmy.[10] Currently, the event is referred to as the My Lai Massacre in America and called the Son My Massacre in Vietnam.

The incident prompted global outrage when it became public knowledge in November 1969. The My Lai massacre increased to some extent[11] domestic opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War when the scope of killing and cover-up attempts were exposed. Initially, three U.S. servicemen who had tried to halt the massacre and rescue the hiding civilians were shunned, and even denounced as traitors by several U.S. Congressmen, including Mendel Rivers, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Only after thirty years were they recognized and decorated, one posthumously, by the U.S. Army for shielding non-combatants from harm in a war zone.

Remember the POW-MIA! Because after murdering 3 million people, poisoning their countryside and leaving their population permanently genetically wounded, we should try really hard to figure out how WE are still being victimized by them with our fantasies!

Yes, remember the pow/mia. The unknown number of them we left to rot in prison cells, despite a lot of evidence that there were still hundreds being held, with their families endlessly petitioning the govt to try to negotiate their release. But we didn't, because it would tarnish our relations with both Vietnam, and more importantly , the Russians. Who was it who shot down any attempt at a real investigation and govt response? None other than former pow john McCain

If the United States put all of its Native American Indians on one big reservation, then proceeded to systematically bomb them and shoot their children... That is EXACTLY what the Jews are doing to Palestinan people ON THEIR OWN LAND.

Do the Native Americans build terror tunnels and lob missles at the neighboring communities? Given all the shit they've pulled over the years, the Pallis have gotten off easy.

Truth is, the genocidal ones in the Middle East are the Muslims. If the Palestinians had the same military power as the Israelis, the Middle East would be rid of both Jews AND Christians--really anyone not Muslim.

if somebody tried that shit with my corner of the world, tunnels would be the least of their problem.

and before you go implying that zionists protect Christians, better get a view from the ground there and understand to what degree of derision Christians are held - i'll help you - they're second class citizens (unless on holy land pilgrimages spending $ and spreading the zionist love back here) and worse.

Maybe Muslims should try not being terrorist assholes for a change? Perhaps the reaction to them would be different after a while? As for "derision" against Christians, not sure about that. But hurt feelings sure beats forced conversions, rape, and murder. There are plenty of Arabs who live in Israel in peace; in contrast, unprotected Jews wouldn't last an hour in the PA controlled terroritories.

History clearly shows that its the Muslims who are consistently genocidal--everything else is projection.

What I don't understand is why the Israelis don't simply purchase Gaza and the West Bank. Give the people there a good price and they will sell. Everyone sells for a good price. The Israelis could have purchased all that land already for a a lot less than they have spent fighting everyone in the Muslim world. In fact, the Israelis could have purchased all that land for less than the USA has given them to fight everyone in the Muslim world. In fact, the USA could simply have purchase all that land for less than the USA has given the Israelis to fight everyone in the Muslim world.

When someone in your neighborhood calls you an asshole, he might actually be the asshole. But when everyone on the planet calls you an asshole, YOU might be the asshole.

Don't hate Jews, direct your ire at the Zionists. Not the same thing at all. Hate is a totally negative state which consumes the hater. People everywhere, of every nation, race, or creed, wake up of a mornning wanting make it to the end of the day, keep the roof over their heads and put food on the table - simples. It's the 0.01% who are the problem, and there you will find the ones deserving of loathing.

From the holiest of all holy book of Judaism, the Talmud: "Even the best of the gentiles deserve only death."

In Judaism, a gentile is anyone not a so-called "Jew."

Do you call a religion represented by such vs. a religion of peace?

I respectfully suggest you take your Arab/Islam hate speech and go away.

The Judaics who demanded the creation of modern Israel (and Golda Meir too) promised to incinerate the entire planet earth if "their" land was threatened. Do you call that a reasonable, peaceful proposition? So, if seven billion earthlings decided the Judaic experiment of 7 million Judaics running Israel should come to an end, for instance, they should all move somewhere else because they are unwanted in Isreal/Palestine: do you agree that all seven billion earthlings deserve death? Really? Is that "democratic" and fair to the 7 billion non-Judaics populating planet Earth?

Suppose one person had their hand on a switch ready to incinerate the entire planet earth unless all 7 billion persons not him agreed to be his servant. Would that be fair and democratic?

Are you won of those pathetically stupid and ignorant persons that think there is such thing as a "right" to exist attached to any country, Israel, the USA, etc?

There may have been a tunnel and there may have been a rocket, but using such (along with the fake kidnapping)as an excuse to level a third of Gaza is a pretty flimsy cover for the genocide of the Palestenian people. Palestinian weapons in Gaza were nearly non existant, and the slick photos of the tunnels were fake, the tunnels themselves were dug by the Jews. Where were the rockets and their launch evidence which should have made fine propaganda for Israel had they existed. It was a huge psy op to blame the Palestinians.

A tunnel? Try over ten thousand! A few thousand have been destroyed by the Egyptian army in the past 2 years alone. 3 days ago there were four Egyptian soldiers killed as they were destroying yet another tunnel.

How would the Jews dig thousands of tunnels between Egypt and Gaza when the nearest Jewish outpost is miles away.

BTW I have been to Gaza and stayed with Palestinians in a refugee camp (Jabaliyah) so I do know the Strip quite well.

A rocket? plus a few thousand more (and many thousands more on top of that).

Hamas has already confirmed that they killed the Jewish youths that set off the recent bloodshed, Israel has also privatly told the families of the youths that the killers were all exterminated.

You are aware that you're a blithering idiot, right? If you don't know it, the "Palistinians" are displaced Jordanians that the King of Jordan refuses to allow to return home.

The Israelis do not need to bomb the "palistinians/gazans" to eliminate them if that was what they wanted. All they would have to do is shut off the electricity and the water. For good measure, they could lock down the border wall and deny transit in either direction.

There would be mass anarchy within three days and violent redistribution of food within a week. Most of them would be dead at the hands of their fellows within a month.

ya i read that a few years ago, very eye opening. If even half of that shit is true(and i have no reason to doubt that it is), how was it not plastered all over the place when that guy was running for president? I don't recall hearing a word about it anywhere from any mainstream source.

Zionistas need the name "Jerusalem" to support the myth that they descended from OT "Ioudaios (ew-DI-awhs)." (The written word "Jew" first appeared, and never prior existed till 1775 A.D. in Sheridan's comedy play "The Rivals:" "...she hath the skin of a mummy and the beard of a Jew..." http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&u... For further proof stop at your local library and look up the word Jew in the multi-volume Oxford Dictionary of the English Language...the word Jew first appeared in print 1775 A.D.)

If the name "Jerusalem" was not needed to hide the fact that "Israeli" genetic line descends from Khazaria and not Israel, Zionistas would change the city's name to "McCainville" to honor the McCain family. John and Senator Lindsey Graham insure more money to Israel than any other country, $5B/year US taxpayer funds, primarily for military weapons. They also insure no debate ever regarding whether USSA's relationship with Israel yields net gain or loss (obviously the latter). Johnny's daddy was the judge who insured Israel got away scot free with mass murder of USA sailors on USS Liberty.

How can you justify registering to vote with choices like Obola vs. McCain and Obola vs. Romney?

Jew, Hebrew Y?h?dh?, or Yehudi, any person whose religion is Judaism. In the broader sense of the term, a Jew is any person belonging to the worldwide group that constitutes, through descent or conversion, a continuation of the ancient Jewish people, who were themselves descendants of the Hebrews of the Old Testament. In ancient times, a Y?h?dh? was originally a member of Judah—i.e., either of the tribe of Judah (one of the 12 tribes that took possession of the Promised Land) or of the subsequent Kingdom of Judah (in contrast to the rival Kingdom of Israel to the north). The Jewish people as a whole, initially called Hebrews (?Ivrim), were known as Israelites (Yisre?elim) from the time of their entrance into the Holy Land to the end of the Babylonian Exile (538 bc). Thereafter, the term Y?h?dh? (Latin: Judaeus; French: Juif; German: Jude; and English: Jew) was used to signify all adherents of Judaism, because the survivors of the Exile (former inhabitants of the Kingdom of Judah) were the only Israelites who had retained their distinctive identity. (The 10 tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel had been dispersed after the Assyrian conquest of 721 bc and were gradually assimilated by other peoples). The term Jew is thus derived through the LatinJudaeus and the Greek Ioudaios from the HebrewY?h?dh?. The latter term is an adjective occurring only in the later parts of the Old Testament and signifying a descendant of Yehudhah (Judah), the fourth son of Jacob, whose tribe, together with that of his half brother Benjamin, constituted the Kingdom of Judah.

In the modern world, a definition of Jew that would be satisfactory to all is virtually impossible to construct, for it involves ethnic and religious issues that are both complex and controversial. In daily life, for example, those who consider themselves Jews are generally accepted as such by Jews and non-Jews alike, even though such persons may not observe religious practices. While all Jews agree that a child born of a Jewish mother is Jewish, Reform Judaism goes beyond Orthodoxy and Conservative Judaism in affirming that a child is Jewish if either one of the parents is a Jew.

From a purely religious standpoint, Gentile converts to Judaism are accepted as Jewish in the fullest sense of the word; but in Israel the rabbinate has often placed obstacles in the registration of Jews who were not converted under the supervision of Orthodox rabbis. For this reason the chief rabbinate of Israel has been confronted in recent years with perplexing problems regarding the religious status of certain immigrants. The Supreme Court of Israel, however, has been making incursions into rabbinic interpretations of personal status. Citizens of the State of Israel are called Israelis, a term carrying no ethnological or religious connotations.

Yup, and the Jews (in the sense of Hebrews, excluding the later Ashkenazan interlopers), and the Palestinians, Lebanese et al are all sons of Shem. Furthermore, Jews, Muslims and Christians are all children of the book. As a Catholic friend of mine put it, there 's only those three and the rest (Hindu's Buddhists etc) don't exist. Nothing quite like a family feud.

Two PhD. Anthropologists, at least one a Judaic, proved beyond a shadow of doubt modern so-called Jewish DNA descended from ancient Khazaria circa 900 A.D., not modern Israel. Khazarians were war loving pagans hated by every single neighbor. They went out to war because they loved killing, especially their Christian and Muslim neighbors. (Kagan is a Khazarian name meaning "king.") One day circa 1000 AD the Khazarian pagan King woke up, read The Talmud, and decided to resurrect the religion of the Rabbis and Pharisees who murdered Christ.

"The Thirteenth Tribe" is free download on the net.

Spain banished Ioudaios for a time because the Spaniards had enough of their shaninigans.

Muslims might have many reasons to "hate" America and Americans. We certainly do everything we can to insure eventually every single non-American Muslim hates us.

But that's not why Muslims leave family and home, and travel around the world to kill Americans in the ME. The reasons Muslims do that is because:

US military is permanently stationed in the holiest of all holy Muslim lands

The USA's self-described "unbreakable bond" with Israel.

USA iron clad military support for the most hated, most evil, most brutal, murderous dictators on planet earth (al Saud family, etc.) Earth to war mongers: let's get this straight: when ISIS behead someone, very very bad bad. When our buddies the Al Saud family behead Muslims, it's very very good. (beheading is normal occurence in this wonderful princely "Kingdom" of Saudi Arabia....what is it, King Arthur's Kingdom over there?) Oh, and isn't nice for our best friends the Al Saud family to finance and build Madrassas where they teach the most caustic form of USA hate to Muslims, telling them the reasons they have to eat dirt is because of America, not the Al Saud family? Isn't that what friends do to friends?

That's why Muslims leave family and home and travel thousands of miles to kill Americans. It has nothing in the world to do with hating freedom, regardless how often the NY Times prints it.

Have you war mongers ever noticed that every single regime we take down in the ME and N. Africa is replaced by a worse regime? And all this wonderfulness for only $3-4 Trillion?

Ever since WWII, the MIC has been a beast that needs to be fed... Without ongoing conflict, the US military industrial complex falls apart... Thus the reason for continuous US instigated conflict around the world for my entire life...

I'm a vietnam combat veteran. I'm also a clinical psychologist and work with vietnam veterans. I also work with iraq and afghanistan veterans. It breaks my heart to see these young guys getting fucked over by the MIC, just like my generation was. What has to happen to wake the dumb american public up?

BTW, do your fucking part! Do something to fight back. Anything. Start with this -

What happened to the other petition calling for a general strike in response to Ebola inaction? I was reading it and then it disappeared when I clicked to sign it. I spent a good amount of time going through ALL of the petitions to find it again but it is gone.

Quoting from the useless propaganda site known as 'wikipedia' is exactly why the pentagon needs to produce their own version.

While some may claim that a government description of events may not suit their personal beliefs, we do need to have their point of view for consideration.

PS: One of my favorite wikipedia absurdities is the claim that more jobs were created during Jimmy Carter's term as president than Ronald Reagan. Think about how from the truth people must stray to believe that nonsense.